HUNTINGTON BEACH : City-Run Ambulance Service OKd 4 to 3

Spurred by the promise of faster response times and cost savings, the City Council early Tuesday voted for a second time in recent weeks to form a city-run ambulance program.

The council, on a 4-3 vote, authorized a first-time expenditure of $468,000 to buy three new ambulances, hire 18 employees to drive the ambulances and buy communications equipment. The program will be operated by the Fire Department.

Fire Chief Michael Dolder said profits from the ambulance service, plus other funding sources, can help his department stave off a $470,000 budget deficit that had threatened to cut back responses to hazardous materials incidents.

The city ambulance system can save lives because it will operate faster under a single command system and because ambulances will be dispatched from three locations to cut down on driving distances, Dolder said.

When the city ambulances begin operating, probably by October, they’ll phase out Seals Ambulance Service, which has provided service in the city since the 1960s.

The council approved the ambulance program early last month but reconsidered it two weeks ago after Councilman David Sullivan warned of potential liability from injured workers and for potentially escalating salaries.

Sullivan told the council at this week’s meeting that higher salaries “could blow the program out of the water.”

Council members Linda Moulton-Patterson and Jim Silva joined with Sullivan in voting against the proposal, contending that private companies should be allowed to compete with the city for the ambulance business.

Dolder said he will recommend that the city hire employees for a limited time, probably three years, in order to achieve salary and benefit savings.

The total annual pay package for each of the new employees would be about $27,000, he said.

The city currently receives about $730,000 from the FireMed Insurance program, which will finance the ambulance program. Households pay $3 a month for paramedic and ambulance coverage for each member of the family. First-year cost of the ambulance program is projected at $549,975.